This may be the busiest week of the year in college football. The conference championship games and College Football Playoff Selection Day are just around the corner. The coaching carousel is in full swing. The first day of the early signing period for high school recruits is Wednesday.

And on Monday the transfer portal will officially open to all players.

College football’s version of free agency begins en masse on December 9, although many players have already announced their intention to find a new school for 2025 since the end of the season. Like everything else in sports, the portal has changed a little over the last year.

How does it all work? When can players participate? Why are some players already there? What trends should we keep an eye on? Here’s your guide to what you need to know when chaos ensues.

How does the transfer portal work?

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a database where players interested in transferring schools can enter their names so that they can be contacted and recruited by interested schools. The portal was launched on October 15, 2018 and every year thousands of athletes across the country enter the portal by informing their school of their intention to transfer. Once notified, a school’s compliance staff has 48 hours to enter the athlete’s name. Once the name officially appears in the portal, the athlete can be contacted by other schools.

When can players enter the portal?

There are two windows for football students to enter the portal. The winter window begins on December 9th and lasts 20 days, ending on December 28th. The spring window begins on April 16, 2025 and lasts 10 days and ends on April 25, 2025.

But aren’t there already some players in the portal? How is that supposed to work?

There are exceptions to the two windows provided. Starting October 1, athletes who want to graduate in the current academic year were able to enter their names on the portal.

When a school undergoes a head coach change, that school’s players have an additional 30-day window beginning the day after the head coach’s departure. Players from North Carolina, Purdue, West Virginia, Appalachian State, Ball State, Central Michigan, FIU, Kennesaw State, Rice, Sam Houston, Southern Miss, Temple, Tulsa, UCF and UMass had the opportunity to enter their name in the portal early . Even if a coaching change occurs after the winter window closes — like Nick Saban’s resignation from Alabama in January, eight days after the 2023-24 winter portal window closed — it still triggers a 30-day grace period for that school’s players to participate.

Players who are officially in the portal should not be confused with players who announce that they intend to enter the portal. With the regular season concluded, many players have already publicly announced their intention to enter the portal. However, if they are not graduates or do not qualify for one of the other exemptions, their names will not be officially released until December 9th at the earliest.

What about players playing deep in the new College Football Playoff?

The expanded 12-team playoffs mean eight teams will play a game after the winter window ends. The quarterfinals will take place on December 31st and January 1st, the semifinals will take place on January 9th and 10th and the national championship will take place on January 20th.

For players playing in the CFP (or other postseason games that extend beyond December 28, such as later bowl games or the FCS playoffs), NCAA rules allow a five-day window to enter the portal , starting the day after their final game of the season .

Do players have to decide on their new school before the window closes?

No. The time frames are only the parameters within which athletes must inform schools of their intention to transfer. Players can take official visits and go through the recruiting process, but are not required to commit before the window closes. However, if they intend to attend spring training at their new school, they must be enrolled for the spring semester, which usually means selecting their new school sometime in January.

Players who are graduate transfers but are not expected to graduate before the spring semester may commit and sign an athletics aid agreement that binds the school to the player, but not the player to the school. Chandler Morris, the former TCU quarterback who played at North Texas this year, took that route and enrolled at UNT over the summer.

Can a player change multiple times?

Yes. Since the one-off transfer rule was introduced in 2021, some players have moved two or three times. In 2021, all underclassmen were allowed to transfer once with immediate eligibility, but would have to sit out a year if they transferred a second time as a student. But those rules were changed this spring, making all transfers immediately eligible to play next season at their new school, although they cannot play for multiple teams in one season. Additionally, a player must leave his or her previous school academically, not be subject to disciplinary suspension or dismissal, and must complete all academic advancement requirements at his or her new school prior to participating in the competition.

Some players transferred from one school and returned after a year away. One example is North Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell. He began his career at UNC, transferred to Arkansas in 2023 and then returned to the Tar Heels in 2024.

What happens if a player changes his mind? Can he return to his original team?

A player may withdraw his name and return to his original school if he still has a roster spot. Once a player enters his name in the portal, the school is no longer obliged to recognize his scholarship and can terminate his athletics funding as early as the next semester. Some coaches take the position that a player who enters the portal is no longer welcome. Others may allow a return if the player is in good standing. Once a player is in the portal, there are no guarantees.

What about NIL and revenue sharing?

When the NCAA allowed athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness for the first time in the summer of 2021, it fundamentally changed player acquisition, especially in the portal. Because NIL was introduced the same year that athletes were granted immediate eligibility, NIL deals – which in many cases became de facto pay-for-play agreements – quickly became incentives for athletes to move, even though was prohibited by NCAA rules.

The market has evolved significantly over the last three years and many teams have organized well-funded collectives to help them attract top talent to the portal or retain current players to keep them from entering the portal. Ohio State, for example, reportedly spent $20 million on its roster this season. Ole Miss spent $10 million.

The ban on using NIL money as a recruiting incentive, already difficult for the NCAA to enforce, is no longer a hurdle as a federal judge blocked the NCAA in February from charging sponsors or players for negotiating and signing money contracts during recruitment on the grounds that such a ban violates antitrust law.

In 2025, the proposed House-NCAA settlement could take effect after receiving preliminary approval in October. This agreement will allow direct revenue sharing between schools and players, which was previously prohibited (only third-party NIL deals were allowed). Schools are not required to share the revenue but may choose to do so, with the initial cap expected to be about $20 million per year per school. The final approval hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 7, 2025. If the settlement is finally approved, revenue sharing between schools and athletes will begin in July 2025.

NIL may exist alongside revenue sharing, but the settlement aims to bring the market more in line with what was originally intended when it was introduced. Settlement conditions include a requirement that all NIL contracts with outside companies valued at $600 or more be reported to a clearinghouse database to ensure that the deals provide fair market value and are not for gambling.

This makes this transition period before the settlement is approved somewhat difficult. Schools can still negotiate NIL deals, as they did before the settlement took effect, but some are also signing revenue-sharing agreements with athletes that are set to take effect next July. Kansas recently did this with linebacker transfer Bangally Kamara from South Carolina, who announced his decision to redshirt and transfer in October.

There is not much clarity among the public about how these deals will be standardized. When SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was recently asked what guidance he had given schools in his conference on revenue-sharing agreements, he remained cautious but said the process was “ongoing.”

“It’s a confidential conversation between attorney and client, so we’ll leave it at that,” he said. “We have a number of working groups that are fully engaged. It is currently a learning process for everyone. I think there is a desire for some standardization. I think that’s healthy for young people, so they don’t try to judge the language, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to see if that can be achieved.”

(Photo: Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)